Friday, April 29, 2005

Well my time without a camera didn't last long. My kids were going to stop being cute so I had to move fast. I decided that I liked the "ultracompact" variety for its convenience to carry around. Britt really wanted a bigger LCD screen to help her frame the pictures. My sister thought I should get a different brand for better picture quality. (Really, why wouldn't that be on the top of everyone's list? Who gets a camera that takes crappy pictures but has great zoom? or because its cool looking? It's a camera. You want one to take pictures of stuff...I don't get it)So it's so long to the Minolta Dimage X and hello to the Canon Elph SD400. There is a longer story of how I actually decided on the SD300 but I had a 10 percent off coupon for Target along with Britt's employee discount but Target only had the SD400 so it ended up being around the same price of the SD300 but I won't go into it (Wait, that's pretty much the story).

It's hard to show off the camera with pictures...since I would be holding the camera. So here's a picture of my dirty mirror (and apparently I was in the middle of dressing myself. Or starting a new fashion trend). Of course, lots of pictures of my kids are sure to follow...

Saturday, April 23, 2005

So the baseball season is about two weeks old and I already couldn't stand it anymore and had to go to a game. I saw that the D-Backs series was mid week and figured I could find some cheap ticket from someone who didn't want to go. I let Wednesday go by but with the Schmidt-Ortiz match up on Thursday, I just had to find a way there. I checked Craigslist Thursday morning and found a pair of club level tickets with a parking pass for 90 bucks so I went for it.

I called my friend Tim who I go to games with a lot and is a Schmidt fan. He punked out on me though with some work excuse. I tried a few other people and no one could make it. I couldn't believe it, I was about to be stuck with a 45 dollar ticket. My wife was going to spend the day with her family while I was gone but I called her and asked if she could come back and go to the game with me. (Hey I love going to baseball games with my wife, she wasn't on my initial list of person to ask because she was set on going to see her family when I told her I wanted togo to the game) I asked my parents to watch the kids and all of a sudden I had a cozy date with my wife.

I tried to leave work as soon as I could but I ended up leaving five minutes late. Traffic was actually pretty good to the Golden Gate but as I hit the span an electronic sign came on with, "STALL ON BRIDGE. USE CAUTION." I could not believe it. I was stuck on the bridge for a good twenty minutes before I got up to see the tow truck working with a motorcycle...A motorcycle???? Someone could not have just picked the thing up and moved it aside? Anyway I winded through the city and picked up the tickets (at least he was near the park), pulled into parking lot A (by the clydesdales, who are on tour through the country), met my wife coming from BART, and settled into our seats on section 223 one pitch into the game.

And what a game it was. Schmidt wasn't real sharp, but he got the job done. Ortiz was typical Ortiz, a ton of pitches, but effective. The struggling Giants offense certainly helped him out too. The game went along pretty briskly without much offense. Britt and I wanted to take advantage of the club level and find something that we can't get in other parts of the park but we settled on fish and chips and Irish nachos. At least we've never had it before and it was reasonably good value for the money. I was hoping for some kind of potatoe skins for the nachos but it was just steak fries and gave me the feeling I was eating chilli cheese fries...

When the game went into extra innings, I had mixed feelings. I always look for games to go long when I am there, it means that it's a good game and I get more game for my money. That night, however, with my kids falling asleep at my parents, I knew I couldn't stay forever. As the innings go by, my wife and I gave each other questioning looks as to how late we are going to stay (incidentally, I was at a Giants-D-Backs game once that went 19 innings. I left that game after 15 innings and they lost). We decided that we would stay for a 14th inning stretch but that was it. Lucky for us, Deivi Cruz has also been sitting for 12 and a half innings and decided that he wanted to go home too. It was awesome, I think I would have been pretty bummed if we lost.

Lastly, and sadly, in all the excitement, my camera fell out of my pocket and took a nasty fall. It still kind of works, but the case pops open and it makes strange sounds. I guess we did get a good 3+ years out of it. I looked on my computer the other day and saw that I had like 5000 pictures on the computer...I am now officially shopping for a new digital camera....

Thursday, April 14, 2005

My sister is generally thought of as being more prone to sickness than most people. Her husband Chris (wow, I think the first time I referred to him as such) would call my sister a "petri dish." I love that name (I wonder if she knows...well, she does now)...I think of it now because everyone in my household is currently sick. Hannah has croup, which is basically a viral infection of the larynx. It gives her the nastiest coughs, especially at night. Sara has an ear infection, somewhat common for her age when she gets a cold. Britt has a kind of adult version of croup I guess, cough that hurts her chest, runny nose, and her eye sneezes (Not really a sneeze, I guess. More of a rapid watering of the eye...you have to see it to get it). I am trying to stiff arm all of that the best I can. My throat hurts a little when I swallow (remember those old commercials? "It hurts when I swallow.." with the little girl...chloraseptic I think it was...) but I think I'm ok for now. It was a lot easier when it was just Hannah, more control over what my kid is exposed to. With two kids to swap germs back and forth, one kid bringing germs from school, someone always seems to have something. I'm surprised my sister still comes over to visit...guess my kids are kind of cute after all...

Sunday, April 10, 2005

Remember when ESPN didn't have deals with the major sports and championship lacrosse was a daily event? Then they got access to more popular sports and decided to showcase the Jacks championship on ESPN2.... Are we going back to those days? I saw darts on ESPN2 the other day. Between poker and darts, when are drinking games going to be a televised sport?

(BTW, I saw curling on the other day as well...Was that invented by some old people who was re-enacting their cruise vacation playing shuffleboard to friends back in Maine? Why is it so strangely captivating?)

Tuesday, April 05, 2005

I have been feeling pretty lazy lately. When I have nothing to do, I do just that - nothing. Now while some of you are already thinking, "How's that different than any other day for you, Alan?" I will tell you how it's different. I am too lazy to even do my usual lazy activities. I can play some video games, but I don't. I can be productive and organize my thousands of pictures on my computer, but I don't. Post a funny anecdote on my blog? Too lazy.... It's sad...where was I going with this? I forget...I'm going back to sitting around.....

Friday, April 01, 2005

I am not much of a joker when it comes to April Fools, but I like other people's efforts. My favorite today is the fine folks at Google...Of course I am on a Google phase though. They can come out with Google toilet paper right now and I would use it...incidentally, if you haven't tried Google Maps, you are so missing out. Happy fooling....

I was having dinner with my daughters when somehow they started to tell me knock-knock jokes. Now they can't tell them right yet (I like Sara telling me "Knock knock" who's there? "*mumble* *mumble* *mumble*....hahahha") but Hannah surprised me with this exchange: